energy

We typically only write about bicycles here but today's post is a bit more general, it's about energy. Energy is the lifeblood of today's world. We use many types of energy everyday for various purposes: to heat & cool our homes, to keep our lights and gadgets running, to manufacture everything we consume, to transport our goods, and to fly us around the world, just to name a few.

The U.S. is massive consumer of energy; we gobble up about a quarter of the world's energy with less than 5% of the world populaion. Oil in particular is becoming a scarcer commodity. That's one reason the U.S. has been on a fracking binge the last handful of years, and has made tremendous gains but certainly not without a cost to water and air quality. Collectively the world burns about 1000 barrels of oil every second, so it's no wonder that companies are willing to frack anywhere they can, explore the deepest oceans and mine tar sands to get any oil that's available.

Well, there's also human energy. Bicycling is a healthy and fun way to reduce your energy consumption, and every day you ride your bicycle you are a small part of the active transportation movement.